Many commercial, mechanical fruit harvesters for orchard fruit are designed for carrying only a single, large, bulk bin for storage of the fruit during the harvesting operation. Such bins must be periodically removed when filled and an empty one placed on the harvester. This harvester bin change procedure consumes an appreciable amount of time in the overall harvesting procedure, e.g., approximately 20 percent of the time it takes to fill a bin. Although commercial, self-propelled equipment is available to transport fruit receiving bins, they are generally quite expensive and do not allow for bin filling while following a harvester.
For convenience and economy of farming operations for the commercial grower, it is highly desirable to employ, if possible, existing farm tractor and trailer equipment typically available on farms to collect and transport orchard fruit after harvesting.